Moving West & Conflict with Native Americans

Open Note Quiz Key &

Study Guide Aid

What are Push-Pull Factors?

Events and conditions that either force (push) people to move elsewhere, or that entice them (pull) to do so.

What was the question Americans were asking when it came to the Western Native American Tribes?

What could be done with the Western Native Americans in order to use the land “more productively”?› Farming› Ranching› Mining

What factors pushed Americans to move to the vast, open, Western lands?

Thousands of Americans were displaced by the Civil War

Escape from religious & racial oppression

Eastern farmland was too expensive 2nd chance for failed entrepreneurs Shelter for outlaws on the run

What was the outcome of the Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 & 1864? Were they push or pull factors?

The Federal Government gave 175 million acres of Western land to the Union & Central Pacific RR companies to ensure completion of the transcontinental railroad

Settlements developed all along the railroad as it was completed

Pull Factors

What did the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 provide to state governments? Was it a push or pull factor?

The Federal Government gave state governments millions of acres of Western land to sell

Profits from those sales would be used to found “land grant” colleges specializing in agricultural arts and engineering

Pull factor

What was the Homestead Act, 1862? Was it a push or pull factor?

The Federal Government gave settlers a measured, registered, and deeded plot of 160 acres (1/4 sq. mi.) if they met a certain set of criteria

Pull factor

What were the requirements for settlers to cash in on the Federal Government’s offer of 160 acres of free western land?

21 years of age; or the head of a household

American citizen; or an immigrant who was pursuing citizenship

Live on the land at least six months a year

Farm/improve the land for five straight years

Explain how the concept of private property pulled Americans west.

Think about the factors that pushed people West and combine them with the offer of free legal ownership of land – recognized by the U.S. Government!

People with next to nothing were offered the chance of something substantial for five years of hard living.

What is the “Great Plains” region of the United States?

The open, fertile, grasslands in the middle of the United States; stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains

Describe how Americans felt about Western Native American tribes.

Fueled by the philosophy of Social Darwinism, many Americans believed they were superior to Native Americans therefore it was okay to take their land for more productive uses.

What two different types of lifestyles did Native American tribes of the west practice?

Farmers, hunters, gathers Nomads: no permanent home, but

always living on the move following the food source… which for nomadic Native American tribes was buffalo!

What policies did the U.S. Government adopt in regards to western Native American tribes?

Sign treaties with Native American tribes for the “sale” of traditional tribal lands to the Federal Government

Sign treaties with Native American tribes forcing them to move off of traditional tribal lands to government designated reservations

Describe the corruption involved in the treaties and other U.S. Government relationships with Native American tribes.

Government negotiators often deemed people “chiefs” who had no power to speak for a tribe, and in some cases had no actual affiliation with the tribe

The government did little to protect tribes from settlers forcibly taking their land

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA): branch of the federal government overseeing the reservations (supplies, security) highly corrupt

How prepared was the U.S. Army to deal with combat vs. the Native American tribes in the West?

Not at all!

How did most Native Americans in the West die during this period of conflict between themselves, settlers, and the U.S. Army?

Disease and diminishing food sources because of increased settlement and a unofficial federal policy of thinning buffalo herds.

What battle is known as “Custer’s Last Stand? Describe the battle.

Little Big Horn 2,000 Sioux warriors annihilated

Custer’s 200 soldiers

What does assimilation mean?

The process by which one society becomes a part of another by adopting their customs, language, etc.

What is the Dawes Act? How did it impact the lives of Native Americans?

It divided reservation lands into individual plots of varying sizes for cultivation

Forced European conceptions of land ownership on Native Americans, who believed nobody owned the land

Describe the relationship between Native American tribes and the buffalo. What policy did the U.S. unofficially endorse that severely impacted that relationship?

Native Americans depended on the buffalo for everything!› Food› Shelter› Clothing› Tools/weapons

Settlers, the U.S. Army, and others were encouraged to thin the herds

Who were the Boomers?Who were the Sooners?Sports fans, now do you understand Oklahoma’s mascot??

Boomers: legal settlers who were given government claims to land in the Oklahoma territory

Sooners: claim jumpers who illegally staked their claim to land in the Oklahoma territory